What is Talent Development & Why is it Important?
It’s no lie that work and our working environments have dramatically changed in the past decade. That change has only been accelerated by the pandemic, the shift to hybrid working, a greater focus on wellbeing, and the significant development of technology – especially AI. As a result, a kind of power shift has occurred where business leaders are now asking themselves: how, in this new working environment, can I hold on to my high-performing employees? The answer is: talent development.
What is talent development?
Employee talent development is a process where organisations position individuals to build their knowledge, skills, and attitudes to both advance careers and help the organisation succeed and grow. Talent development centers around people; an organisation is only as good as its people, so ensuring their success and development is key to holding onto them.
As a sub-category of performance management, talent development is vital to retaining and maintaining crucial business talent. Crucially, it goes beyond just training. Talent development includes personalised development plans and on-the-job learning opportunities; it’s unique to the individual focusing on developing their key skills in line with the business goals. What talent development ensures is that employees, specifically these key players within your business, have a clear path to growth and skillset development, enabling them to quickly progress through the company and achieve their own goals, whilst helping the company to perform well.
In this new working world, talent development is something new and existing employees look for as perks or benefits to a job, and its key to showing them they’re valued – this became incredibly clear during the period of the ‘Great Resignation’.
Why is talent development important?
The benefits of talent development go far and wide, here are just a few:
Organisational growth: Talent development is key to supporting an organisation's overall strategy. Ensuring talent is constantly growing and developing means that there is always a strong bench of employees to achieve business goals.
Attracting talent: It can act as a recruiting tool. It’s been found that growth and training opportunities are a key draw for 90% of job applicants.
Employee engagement: By taking personalised steps to develop individual skills and help employees reach their own goals dramatically increases their workplace satisfaction and engagement. This can have positive effects on work culture and employee happiness too.
Competitive advantage:A skilled and engaged workforce gives organizations a competitive edge in attracting and retaining top talent and meeting evolving market demands.
Another reason why talent development is so important for modern workplaces is the effect it has on employee retention. Research has found that 40% of employees now report being somewhat likely to leave their job in the next six months. And this is most often due to a lack of growth opportunities at work. And losing employees can be really costly.
The cost of replacing an employee can vary, but it’s estimated to range from half to two-times an employee’s salary – ouch! That means that strategising for employee retention is really important for businesses, which is just another reason why talent development is important to invest in. Internal growth and recruitment can save a business a lot of money in the long run.
The benefits of talent development and what it can bring to both your employees personally and your company as a whole are why it’s so important.
Examples of talent development
Talent development can take many forms. Some of the most common examples of talent development include:
Personalised growth plans
External coaching
Internal coaching
Mentorship & shadowing
Personalised Growth Plans
Personalised growth plans are one of the most key and common talent development opportunities. These plans help to make development unique to an individual, to pinpoint their strengths, weaknesses, and skillsets, and work on them to achieve successful growth.
Personalised development plans can help to create clear career pathways, whilst providing employees with accountability and motivation to make their way through them and achieve their goals.
External Coaching
A business can invest in external coaching for development that might not be so effectively delivered internally. They can ensure their high-potential employees are working with experienced coaches who understand how to develop them efficiently. Focus by EZRA involves short and sharp interventions when you need it most, matching employees with world-class coaches to create individualised programs that are backed by behavioural science and technology. So, you’ll be safe in the knowledge that we know what we’re doing!
Internal Coaching
Creating a culture of in-house training and coaching is another way that talent development can occur. This internal coaching culture ensures that growth is constant; whilst other programs can be delivered within a set timeframe, internal coaching can be continual, and building that coaching culture at work can ensure development isn’t halted after a program finishes.
Mentorship & Shadowing
Providing mentorship opportunities can also be a really effective way of instigating talent development. These opportunities can include pairing future leaders with current leadership to shadow and learn more about what leadership positions are like. They’re also key to helping employees develop their soft skills, like communication, teamwork, problem solving, and more.
Talent development is key in so many ways, so why not start your journey with it today and help both your employees and your business reach goals and objectives to become both successful and high performing.